Last Week’s Jams (10.21 – 10.25)

It seems like the year is grinding to a slow halt, as there are fewer and fewer trickles of new tracks coming our way, though I’ll admittedly hope that that’s the end of the year preparations not the musical end of times. Still, I fell in love with a lot of great songs, like a new single from the last Mope Grooves LP, which just came out on 12XU. Also, 12XU adjacent is a new single from Austin’s Quin Galavis, which I was digging too. There was a brand new single from The Gentle Spring, which hopefully got you Field Mice fans excited. Plus, RayRay has been busting his ass on getting coverage out for Levitation this week, with new posts up on Pissed Jeans and Acid Mothers Temple.

Levitation Interviews: Pissed Jeans

Wow, hard to believe that we are already about to roll into November and it is once again time for Levitation Festival in Austin. Now this crew stands with the opinion that this is the best fest in town as we love the peeps who put it on, dig the venues, and generally vibe with the bands on the bill. This year is no different as our hype builds and things look to set off in downtown next week. We would of course fail at life if we didn’t try to prep you in some way so a few Levitation “Getting to Know You” interviews seems like a fitting kick off. Also more fitting, is getting to jumpstart this thing with one of my top bands of the entire weekend – Pissed Jeans. Hit the jump for band insights, tunes and set times.

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Top 13 Bands of FFF Fest

1112top5coverFun Fun Fun Fest snuck up on me quite a bit this year and it’s hard to believe that we are just one short week away from Austin’s best festival.  Good times will be had by all I’m sure and of course ATH is here to ensure that you will be aptly prepared for the weekend of fun.  Today we’re continuing our coverage of the fest with a look at 13 bands you definitely shouldn’t miss out on.  Why 13?  Because it’s Halloween and we’re cool.  Follow the jump for the list in no particular order.

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Pissed Jeans – King of Jeans

jeansRating: ★★☆☆☆

On their third album, King of Jeans, Pissed Jeans come out firing, as you would expect them to do. It’s high energy barroom brawling, but in order to really dig deeply into their album, you would have to listen to the whole record extremely closely, which is often difficult to do given the intensity of the sonic force on display.

One of the difficulties in approaching this album is that you really can’t discern the relevance of the album.  It’s grounded in 90s hardcore, or even further back if you want to dance around with some of the influences. Still, a barrage of noise is not necessarily something that you find on the scene nowadays.  Perhaps this is refreshing in a certain regard, but in the end, you’re more than likely to lean back to teenage angst and nostalgia, or be turned off altogether.

Like most of the music the band wears upon its sleeve, you can barely follow the lyrics throughout the album.  Most of the vocals seem to waiver upon the screaming of various syllables, though the liner notes indicate otherwise. Even looking at the lyrics, you can’t really decide whether or not to take them too seriously.  It’s as if they come straight out of the notebook of a teenager, or some disgruntled youth trying to find his or her way.  Barking the lyrics doesn’t do much justice for the listener either, making the majority of the songs somewhat unlistenable.

Still, the album isn’t all filled with negativity, as this review may lead you to believe.  You have to be refreshed at the idea of a band bucking modern musical trends in pursuit of their own rewards.  Such a ferocity has not come across these ears in quite some time, and while that is probably due to age, albums like this tend to bring you back to your own angst-ridden collection, if you haven’t discarded everything at this point.

Probably one of the most enticing aspects, for those traveling the road of their past, is that the riffs even seem reminiscent of every hardcore band you listened to when you were at that phase of your life.  It comes off as a familiar rendition, yet done with a little bit more of an edge.  The ominous chords persist, and the growling vocals remind you of the band you always dreamed of making when you were in 9th Grade. Such is King of Jeans, fueled in the anger of our past dreams, turning and burning all the way.

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